Content Search for Plymouth Unit Lauren Bowman 1.

As the teacher, it is important for me to have in depth knowledge of the Pilgrims and their journey in order to be able to teach it to my second grade class. I need to have more knowledge of the subject than what I teach the students, especially because my class is so curious and always wants to know more. For the first lesson, pilgrim means someone who travels to a holy place. So, it is interesting that the Pilgrims were called such. They were seeking a place to practice the religion they chose however, the New World was not a holy place. Another definition is someone who journeys in foreign lands which is more appropriate for the pilgrims we learning about. I also need to know about religious freedom since that is was what initially prompted the Pilgrims to leave England. According to religioustolerance.org, religious freedom can mean the freedom to practice as one wishes but can also mean the freedom to discriminate against others based on religion. Additionally, it is important for this unit to know the details of the Pilgrims story. The Pilgrims (also known as Separatists) illegally broke from the Church of England and so fled in 1607 to avoid being persecuted. The moved to the Netherlands, first in Amsterdam then Leiden but were afraid that they would lose their English culture if they stayed. They also faced economic hardship in Netherlands. A London stock company financed their voyage to take the Mayflower and Speedwell to the Hudson River in the New World in 1620. After they set sail, they realized the Speedwell was not in condition to make the journey so they returned to England and left over a month later on just the Mayflower. They planned to land near the bay to the Hudson River because it was close enough to the Virginia colony that they could trade and communicate with them but far enough away to be their own independent settlement. Storms and

rough waters prevented them from landing there and after 65 days at sea, they landed in what became Plymouth, Massachusetts. Since they arrived in November, they spent the first winter on the ship. More than half died during the first winter because of poor conditions. Plymouth settlers, or Pilgrims, were not initially called that. They were called Old Comers until some of William Bradfords writing from the time was found in which he called them pilgrimes. 2. The Pilgrims did not land on Plymouth Rock, they landed near Provincetown first. The first Thanksgiving was not a religious event because the Native Americans would not have been invited if it was and it was not the beginning of an annual tradition. The first feast also lasted three days and was not necessarily at the end of November. The Pilgrims did not wear buckles because those did not become fashionable until later in the seventeenth century. The Pilgrims were not headed for Virginia or Massachusetts, but New York. It was not a navigational issue that landed them in Plymouth but storms and rough waters. They did not live in log cabins, those were not common until many years later. Puritans and Pilgrims are different groups of people who both wanted religious freedom. 3. The enduring understandings for students upon completion of the unit are to know who the Pilgrims were and how they came to establish a colony in Colonial America. This includes knowing what the word pilgrim means, what a colony is, why the Pilgrims decided to come to the New World, how they got here, and what troubles they faced aboard the Mayflower and upon arrival. 4. The essential questions for the unit are who were the Pilgrims and how and why did they come to America? Also what was life like for them once they arrived?

References Mayflower Myths. (n.d.). History.com. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://www.history.com/topics/mayflower-myths The Pilgrims. (n.d.). History.com. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://www.history.com/topics/pilgrims Top 10 Myths About Thanksgiving. (n.d.).History News Network. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://hnn.us/article/406 Two meanings of religious freedom & liberty: 1. Freedom of beliefs, speech, & practices and 2. Freedom to restrict services to, to hate, to denigrate, or to oppress others.. (n.d.). Religious freedom: what it used to mean, and what it means now. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://www.religioustolerance.org/relfree.htm pilgrim. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/pilgrim